A Noble Fight
by FalconHawk
Summary: Eebon Cousland and Alfstanna met years before Eebon was recruited as a Grey Warden or Alfstanna became Waking Sea's Bann. This is the story of their first meeting, and how the strong friendship between them was born.


_While playing DA:O, I noticed that Alfstanna treats a Cousland Warden with a certain familiarity, giving me the impression that they had previously met, and maybe even been friends. So I decided to write a short story to expand on this. In this story, both Eebon Cousland and Alfstanna are about fifteen or sixteen years old, Fergus is about nineteen, is newly married, and is just starting to learn how to be a Teryn. Hope you like it, enjoy!_

* * *

Sweat poured down Eebon's face as he swung his greatsword horizontally, then quickly set the blade down, dropped to the ground and executed five pushups, then seized his sword again and leapt back to his feet. The Master at Arms had been drilling him, as well as the other Highever soldiers since just after sunrise. It was now mid-afternoon. They had been allowed thirty minutes for lunch, but aside from that were only allowed a five minute water break every hour.

Ser Nigel had been a common soldier prior to the Orlesian occupation of Ferelden, and had fought courageously at Teryn Bryce Cousland's side in more battles than either one of them cared to remember. When the war was over, and Bryce was restored to his rightful position, one of his first acts had been to make Nigel a knight, and granted him a place at Castle Cousland. Ser Nigel was not the youthful soldier he'd been during the war anymore. He was in his early fifties, and the grey was threatening to take over all of his hair, but the man had lost none of his fire with the years. After realizing that he could no longer keep up with the younger generation of soldiers, the aging knight had requested to be put in charge of training the new soldiers, and Bryce had made him Castle Highever's Master at Arms. Now Ser Nigel trained Eebon Cousland, the youngest son of his old friend.

"Three, nine, four!" Ser Nigel ordered.

Each number corresponded to a different sword technique, and Nigel would usually change what number translated to what technique every hour. Eebon lifted his greatsword above his head, sword pointing down to defend his body, swung diagonally, then thrust forward, dropping back to the ground, Eebon did five more pushups, then leapt to his feet once more, sword in the ready position.

Ser Nigel strode down the line of swordsmen, coming to stop in front of Eebon. "Little Cousland…" Nigel said with a cruel smile. "Are you tired?"

"Yes Ser!" Eebon gasped.

"Good!" Nigel snapped, "Then you can learn-"

"Attention!" Eebon immediately recognized his older brother's voice.

Nigel turned to look find Bryce, and his oldest son, Fergus on the far end of the parade grounds. Nigel did not come to attention, as the young soldiers around him did. His friendship and history with Bryce had earned him that right. "To what do we owe your presence, my Teryn?"

"I would have words with my son." Bryce answered.

Eebon's eyes moved to Ser Nigel. He knew better than break formation without his permission. On the parade ground, Ser Nigel was king, or more accurately, dictator. Nigel nodded and Eebon placed his sword across his back, and jogged to where his father and elder brother stood.

"Training hard?" Bryce asked.

"Yes father." Eebon answered between gasps, too exhausted to detect the anger in father's voice.

Bryce scowled, "That's odd, because I distinctly remember telling _both_ you and Fergus to be in the great hall, dressed appropriately, and ready for the arrival of Bann Felix. If you are not in the great hall in fifteen minutes, then I'm going to inform Ser Nigel that you don't need to sleep tonight, and you'd better not smell like sweat!"

Eebon gulped. He knew his father wasn't bluffing, he'd been left at the Master at Arm's tender mercies before, and had been so sore afterward that he hadn't been able to walk for two days. Fergus chuckled as his younger brother set off as fast as his sore, exhausted legs could carry him.

* * *

"How long did it take me?" Eebon whispered to Fergus.

"Sixteen minutes by my count." Fergus whispered back. "Don't worry, I won't tell father."

"Thanks… I owe you one."

Before Fergus could answer, a soldier entered the great hall and said, "Teryn Cousland, Bann Felix and his daughter Alfstanna have arrived!"

"Show them in." Bryce responded.

Eebon glanced at Fergus again. "Alfstanna?" He said questioningly.

"Hey, don't look at me! I didn't know, I swear!"

Eebon couldn't help a groan. Ever since Fergus had been married a year ago to the daughter of a rich Antivan merchant, their parents had been hunting for a suitable wife for Eebon as well. Eebon had already been forcibly introduced to three noblemen's daughters, and had found them to be boring and tedious at best. Eebon assumed that this Alfstanna was meant to be the fourth. "I should have stayed on the parade ground and taken my chances with Ser Nigel!" Eebon whispered again.

"Shut-up!" Fergus hissed.

Bann Felix, a young girl about Eebon's age, and several assistants and other servants entered the great hall. Bryce called warmly, "Welcome to Highever my friend! It's good to see you again."

"You as well, Teryn Cousland." Felix answered. "May I introduce you to my youngest child, Alfstanna." Eebon couldn't help but note how Alfstanna rolled her eyes.

"A pleasure." Bryce said, then motioned to his own children. "This is my oldest and my heir, Fergus. And my youngest, Eebon." Both young men bowed politely. Fergus smiled, Eebon only looked bored. "Eebon," Bryce said, "Would you be so kind as to entertain Alfstanna until dinner? Fergus, you stay here, it's high time you began taking part in the politics of Highever.

Both boys bowed again. Fergus took a seat to the right of the head of the table. Eebon groaned again and motioned for Alfstanna to follow him, Alfstanna rolled her eyes again and fell in behind him. Eebon left the great hall and began making his way to the library. The three women he'd been introduced to earlier had expressed a strong interest in literature. On reaching the library, Alfstanna sighed, almost sounding irritated and began looking through bookshelves with seemingly little interest. Eebon sat at a reading table and began drumming his fingers. For the first time he really looked at Alfstanna.

She wasn't beautiful, but not ugly either. Eebon found that she looked terribly average. He'd seen hundreds of other girls in Highever and Castle Cousland like that. Unlike the other three, Alfstanna wore almost no makeup or any other cosmetics, and her dress was far from stylish or fashionable, Eebon almost thought that the sky-blue dress looked more like something a commoner would wear. Similarly, Alfstanna had her brown hair cut relatively short, only coming to the bottom of her neck, Eebon's own hair was only marginally shorter.

"Do you know if you have 'Champions of Thedas'?" Alfstanna asked, speaking for the first time since Eebon had seen her.

"What?" Eebon asked, he'd been half-way zoned out.

"Champions of Thedas, it's my favorite book."

"I've never heard of it. I hardly ever come down here, and about the only books I'm familiar with are in regard to swordplay or soldiery."

"It's about some of the greatest heroes the world has ever known, you idiot!" Alfstanna said, "Calenhad, the dwarven king Endrin Stonehammer, Alaric, Drakon the Conqueror and his wife Empress Area, and my personal favorite, Garahel!"

Alfstanna now had his attention. He knew of all the warriors she'd just named, with the exception of the last one. "Who was Garahel?"

"You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Alfstanna glared at him over her shoulder. "Garahel is one of the few heroes who was not born noble. In fact, he rose from nothing! Prior to the fourth blight, no one had even heard of him. He was just some elf who had managed to become a Grey Warden commander, and when the blight did begin Thedas was in no condition to fight such a large darkspawn force. But none-the-less, Garahel managed to rally the Grey Wardens and form an army. He killed the Archdemon, Andoral almost single-handedly, although Garahel himself did not survive the battle."

Eebon arched his eyebrows. The previous three woman had had no interest whatsoever in warriors or epic battles. And seeing as how for the last two years, his greatsword had been very nearly his only interest, he'd had very little to talk about with any of them. Perhaps this Alfstanna really was different.

"Ah-ha!" Alfstanna exclaimed, pulling a book from the shelf. From the amount of dust she brushed off the cover, the book had not been touched in years. Alfstanna tossed the book to the table in front of Eebon. "Read that, you ignorant lordling! Get some real education!"

Eebon idly paged through the book, he muttered. "Most of my education takes place on the parade ground."

Alfstanna dropped herself into a seat next to Eebon, she surprised him again when she asked, "So what's your weapon of choice?"

"The greatsword." Eebon answered quickly. "I believe that there is no substitute for raw power!" Eebon looked up from the book to find Alfstanna's deep blue eyes studying him with newfound interest.

"I prefer shortswords… speed and agility. I actually stared out using a war axe and shield, but then our Master at Arms recommended that I switch to duel wielding." Alfstanna saw the surprised expression spread across Eebon's features. "What!? Did you think that a noblewoman can't fight?"

Eebon recoiled slightly at the aggression in her voice. "No!" He said immediately. "In fact if you ask my mother, she will proudly tell you that she was a shield maiden during the war. I think that's actually how my father and her fell in love."

"That so…" Alfstanna said, she'd never tell him, but her respect for the young Cousland was going up. "Let's see what you've learned!"

"Huh?" Eebon asked, even more surprised now.

Alfstanna rolled her eyes again. "A duel, you idiot!"

Eebon was instantly happy again, and set off running back to his room to don his armor and retrieve his greatsword once more.

* * *

Eebon earned a withering glare from Ser Nigel when he strode back onto the parade ground. Alfstanna arrived a few minutes later. The blue dress was gone to be replaced by steel studded, thick leather armor. Eebon could see the hilts of twin shortswords rising over her shoulders.

"You ready?" Alfstanna asked, drawing her swords.

Eebon took out his own greatsword. "What are the rules?"

"There are no rules! You think those Orlesian bastards stopped to ask what rules they would be fighting by when they invaded?"

"Good." Eebon grinned. "First one to land a strike to the torso wins… and don't worry, this is a tournament sword so you don't have worry about it ruining your pretty skin! They don't trust me with a sharpened sword just yet."

"You should be the one worried about that!" Alfstanna said, then dashed in, striking low at Eebon's legs with her dulled swords.

Eebon rotated his sword down, blocking both of her swords and striking them away, leaving Alfstanna's body open to attack. By the time Eebon had brought his own sword back for another strike however, Alfstanna had maneuvered out of the way and was coming in towards Eebon's weak side. '_She moves so fast!_' Eebon thought as he jumped backwards, avoiding the flurry of slashes that Alfstanna directed at him. '_I've never seen anyone fight like this!_'

Alfstanna swung down with both her blades, but again, Eebon managed to raise his greatsword just in time to defend himself, then heaved forward, throwing Alfstanna off balance, before she could fully recover Eebon rammed his shoulder into her chest, driving her to the ground. Alfstanna had the wind knocked out of her, and barely had time to roll out of the way as Eebon's greatsword thudded into the hard packed dirt where her body had just been. '_He's strong!_' Alfstanna realized, '_Stronger than anyone his age has a right to be! This is really going to be a challenge!_' Alfstanna grinned as she came back to her feet and took the offensive once more.

Neither of the young nobles knew how long their duel continued on for, but neither one was able to overcome the other, and now their strength was staring to dwindle. Alfstanna wasn't able to leap in and out of Eebon's range quite so quickly anymore, and while Eebon still took the offensive with surprising power, he wasn't as strong as he'd been at the beginning.

Alfstanna had landed several hits on Eebon, but they had all been on his arms and legs, and while his chainmail and padded underclothing absorbed most of the force, Eebon knew he would badly bruised the next day. Not to mention that every strike she managed to land on his arms and legs slowed him a bit more. Alfstanna wasn't having it any easier however. While Eebon hadn't landed a single hit on her, it was exhausting having to defend from his brutal swings. Every time Alfstanna blocked Eebon's greatsword on her own blades it would send heavy vibrations up her arms, which by that time were almost numb.

Alfstanna raised her swords above her head in an "X", catching Eebon's greatsword, then rotated her swords, and disarming Eebon with a flick of her wrists. Eebon stared at her with wide eyes as his greatsword clattered to the ground.

"Yeah, get him my lady!" A soldier shouted. Neither of the young nobles had noticed the crowd of soldiers and castle servants who had gathered around them to watch. Even Ser Nigel had called a stop to the soldier's training so they could observe.

Alfstanna grinned again, feeling the duel was about to end. She held her swords out to either side and swung inwards, but Eebon had another trick up his sleeve and stepped in, seizing both her wrists and driving his knee up into her stomach, Eebon twisted her arms out and down. Alfstanna cried out in pain and was forced to drop both her swords.

"That's how it's done!" An elf servant yelled, "Get her Lord Eebon!"

Against the pain in her arms, Alfstanna put one of her feet behind Eebon's leg and pushed forward with all the strength she could find in herself. Eebon staggered backwards and tripped over Alfstanna's leg, he released her wrists as he tumbled backwards, landing hard on his back. The gathered crowd of onlookers erupted in cheers or cries of disappointment. Alfstanna kicked Eebon's greatsword further away from him, then stooped pick up one of her own swords, she stopped when she felt Eebon's ankles wrap about one of her legs, then he twisted his body, bringing her to ground as well. Again, the crowd went wild with excitement.

Eebon rolled towards his greatsword, but just as his hands closed around the hilt, Alfstanna pounced on his back, and grabbed him by the ears. Eebon howled in pain as his face smashed into the ground. Eebon released his sword again and lurched to one side, bringing an elbow up connecting with Alfstanna's jaw. The crowd was working themselves up into a frenzy.

"Eebon!" Bryce Cousland's voice rang out above the roar of the onlookers. Eebon froze just as he straddled Alfstanna, bringing a fist back to punch her in the face.

Bann Felix yelled, "Alfstanna!"

The young lord and lady slowly rose to their feet. Judging from their fathers voices, both men were angry with their offspring, although neither Eebon, nor Alfstanna could stop a wide grin from spreading across their faces. Eebon spied Fergus standing behind their father, doing his best to keep from chuckling.

Bryce continued. "Eebon, what in Andraste's holy name is going on here?! I told you to entertain her, not fight her." His gaze moved to Ser Nigel. "And just what was going through your head? Allowing this to continue, quite literally in front of you!?"

Nigel shrugged. "I thought they had your permission." He answered.

"Father…" Eebon ventured, "She was the one who challenged me."

"And I assure you," Alfstanna said, coming to Eebon's aid, "It was quite entertaining.

* * *

Fergus entered the castle dining room, the first thing he noticed was how Eebon and Alfstanna were seated next to each other. The second thing he noticed was how both were covered in bruises and moved very stiffly. "I never thought I'd see the day that my little brother would get his ass kicked by a girl!"

"You fight her next time!" Eebon flared, "And keep in mind that I'm a better swordsman than you are!"

Alfstanna spoke before Fergus could come up with a retort, "In your brother's defense, he gave about as good as he got."

Eebon stiffly turned his head towards Alfstanna. "Thank you my lady."

"You're welcome my lord." She answered, then both young nobles started chuckling, which soon gave way to laughing, Fergus joined in.

Both Eebon and Fergus immediately ceased laughing as their mother, Eleanor, entered the dining room. Eleanor slowly looked from one to the other, to the other. She smiled and shook her head knowingly. "Bryce told me what happened on the parade ground today." She announced. "And I have only one question."

Eebon froze, sensing one of her infamous scolding sessions coming on. However, Eleanor only smiled again and asked, "Who won?"

Fergus, Eebon, and Alfstanna all broke into wide grins again. Eebon answered, "Well, I was just about to win, but father had to come and ruin everything first."

"The hell you were!" Alfstanna instantly countered, "I had you right I wanted you! Another few seconds and I would have won!"

"Alright, that's enough!" Eleanor ordered, and silence immediately reigned once more. "Your already famous duel is all anyone in the castle wants to talk about right now, and it doesn't make for good dinner conversation.

Eebon leaned closer to Alfstanna just as two elf servants entered with large platters bearing bowls of steaming soup. "We'll settle this at our next meeting!" He whispered, "And don't think I'll be holding back next time!"

"Oh please!" Alfstanna whispered back, "You know I was taking it easy on you the whole time!?"


End file.
